Song of the Day: Shay Hazan - Desert Snake

Tel Aviv bassist and composer Shay Hazan released his new single Desert Snake from the album Nuff Headlines with his Shay Hazan Quintet via Chant Records.

Bassist and composer Shay Hazan is a mainstay on the vibrant Tel Aviv jazz scene. His versatile bass playing can be heard on the Israeli radio alongside well-known pop stars, in eclectic jazz clubs and festivals in Israel and Europe. Hazan's new album Nuff Headlines finds him in the leadership role, a rare (although not unheard of) position for a bass player. The quintet is filled out by the two-horn duo of Tal Avraham on trumpet and Eyal Netzer on saxophone, along with Milton Michaeli on piano and Haim Peskoff on drums. Hazan’s musical roots spread far and wide into the magical realm of Moroccan Gnawa music (Hazan often plays gimbri, the traditional three-stringed skin-covered bass lute), the new wave of hip hop, and the 1960's Chicago free jazz and human rights movement. These roots all feed the single organism of the band, with Hazan leading from the bottom, anchoring and propelling the music with a force only a bassist can provide.

Listen to Shay Hazan Quintet new single Desert Snake, from the band's last album Nuff Headlines:

Shay Hazan, composer, producer, bassist & bandleader, having cemented a key role in the electric Tel Aviv scene, is poised to share his multiple talents with the world, a unique synthesis of jazz, hip hop, and Moroccan Gnawa music. Not content with leading a world-class jazz quintet, performing on Europe’s most prestigious festival stages, with a vinyl release on Jazzman Records and support on cutting edge radio stations such as NTS. Shay Hazan’s solo work, signed to Batov Records, see him constructing soulful and sophisticated hip hop leaning beats & soundscapes, with a jazz musician's ear and flair, around a hypnotic and uplifting sound centered on Hazan’s individual playing of the guimbri, the traditional three-stringed skin-covered bass lute heard found in Moroccan Gnawa music.

Watch below Shay Hazan Quintet new single Desert Snake, from the band's last album Nuff Headlines: